Intel's upcoming Sierra Forest Xeon server chip has debuted on Geekbench 6, showcasing its potential in multi-core performance. Slated for release in the first half of 2024, Sierra Forest is equipped with up to 288 Efficiency cores, positioning it to compete with AMD's Zen 4c Bergamo server CPUs and other ARM-based server chips like those from Ampere for the favor of cloud service providers (CSP). In the Geekbench 6 benchmark, a dual-socket configuration featuring two 144-core Sierra Forest CPUs was tested. The benchmark revealed a notable multi-core score of 7,770, surpassing most dual-socket systems powered by Intel's high-end Xeon Platinum 8480+, which typically scores between 6,500 and 7,500. However, Sierra Forest's single-core score of 855 points was considerably lower, not even reaching half of that of the 8480+, which manages 1,897 points.

The difference in single-core performance is a matter of choice, as Sierra Forest uses Crestmont-derived Sierra Glen E-cores, which are more power and area-efficient, unlike the Golden Cove P-cores in the Sapphire Rapids-based 8480+. This design choice is particularly advantageous for server environments where high-core counts are crucial, as CSPs usually partition their instances by the number of CPU cores. However, compared to AMD's Bergamo CPUs, which use Zen 4c cores, Sierra Forest lacks pure computing performance, especially in multi-core. The Sierra Forest lacks hyperthreading, while Bergaamo offers SMT with 256 threads on the 128-core SKU. Comparing the Geekbench 6 scores to AMD Bergamo EPYC 9754 and Sierra Forest results look a lot less impressive. Bergamo scored 1,597 points in single-core, almost double that of Sierra Forest, and 16,455 points in the multi-core benchmarks, which is more than double. This is a significant advantage of the Zen 4c core, which cuts down on caches instead of being an entirely different core, as Intel does with its P and E-cores. However, these are just preliminary numbers; we must wait for real-world benchmarks to see the actual performance.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Manufacturer for AI, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing three new additions to its AMD-based H13 generation of GPU Servers, optimized to deliver leading-edge performance and efficiency, powered by the new AMD Instinct MI300 Series accelerators. Supermicro's powerful rack scale solutions with 8-GPU servers with the AMD Instinct MI300X OAM configuration are ideal for large model training.

The new 2U liquid-cooled and 4U air-cooled servers with the AMD Instinct MI300A Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) accelerators are available and improve data center efficiencies and power the fast-growing complex demands in AI, LLM, and HPC. The new systems contain quad APUs for scalable applications. Supermicro can deliver complete liquid-cooled racks for large-scale environments with up to 1,728 TFlops of FP64 performance per rack. Supermicro worldwide manufacturing facilities streamline the delivery of these new servers for AI and HPC convergence.

Today at Microsoft Ignite, AMD and Microsoft featured how AMD products, including the upcoming AMD Instinct MI300X accelerator, AMD EPYC CPUs and AMD Ryzen CPUs with AI engines, are enabling new services and compute capabilities across cloud and generative AI, Confidential Computing, Cloud Computing and smarter, more intelligent PCs.

"AMD is fostering AI everywhere - from the cloud, to the enterprise and end point devices - all powered by our CPUs, GPUs, accelerators and AI engines," said Vamsi Boppana, Senior Vice President, AI, AMD. "Together with Microsoft and a rapidly growing ecosystem of software and hardware partners, AMD is accelerating innovation to bring the benefits of AI to a broad portfolio of compute engines, with expanding software capabilities."

TYAN, an industry leader in server platform design and a subsidiary of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, debuts its new server line-up for 4th Gen AMD EPYC & AMD Ryzen Processors at SC23, Booth #1917, in the Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO, November 13-16.

AMD EPYC 9004 processor features leadership performance and is optimized for a wide range of HPC, cloud-native computing and Generative AI workloads
TYAN offers server platforms supporting the AMD EPYC 9004 processors that provide up to 128 Zen 4C cores and 256 MB of L3 Cache for dynamic cloud-native applications with high performance, density, energy efficiency, and compatibility.

Researchers at Graz University of Technology and the Helmholtz Center for Information Security have released their paper on CacheWarp—the latest vulnerability affecting some of the prior generation AMD EPYC CPUs. Titled CVE-2023-20592, the exploit targets first-generation EPYC Naples, second-generation EPYC Rome, and third-generation EPYC Milan. CacheWarp operates by exploiting a vulnerability in AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) technology, specifically targeting the SEV-ES (Encrypted State) and SEV-SNP (Secure Nested Paging) versions. The attack is a software-based fault injection technique that manipulates the cache memory of a virtual machine (VM) running under SEV. It cleverly forces modified cache lines of the guest VM to revert to their previous state. This action circumvents the integrity checks that SEV-SNP is designed to enforce, allowing the attacker to inject faults without being detected.

Unlike attacks that rely on specific guest VM vulnerabilities, CacheWarp is more versatile and dangerous because it does not depend on the characteristics of the targeted VM. It exploits the underlying architectural weaknesses of AMD SEV, making it a broad threat to systems relying on this technology for security. The CacheWarp attack can bypass robust security measures like encrypted virtualization, posing a significant risk to data confidentiality and integrity in secure computing environments. AMD has issued an update for EPYC Milan with a hot-loadable microcode patch and updated the firmware image without any expected performance degradation. And for the remaining generations, AMD states that no mitigation is available for the first or second generations of EPYC processor (Naples and Rome) since the SEV and SEV-ES features are not designed to protect guest VM memory integrity, and the SEV-SNP is not available.

ASRock Rack Inc., the leading innovative server company, today is set to showcase a comprehensive range of servers for diverse AI workloads catering to scenarios from the edge, on-premises, and to the cloud at booth #1737 at SC 23 held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, USA. The event is from November 13th to 16th, and ASRock Rack will feature the following significant highlights:

At SC 23, ASRock Rack will demonstrate the NVIDIA-Qualified 2U4G-GENOA/M3 and 4U8G series GPU server solutions along with the NVIDIA H100 PCIe. The ASRock Rack 4U8G and 4U10G series GPU servers are able to accommodate eight to ten 400 W dual-slot GPU cards and 24 hot-swappable 2.5" drives, designed to deliver exceptional performance for demanding AI workloads deployed in the cloud environment. The 2U4G-GENOA/M3, tailored for lighter workloads, is powered by a single AMD EPYC 9004 series processor and is able to support four 400 W dual-slot GPUs while having additional PCIe and OCP NIC 3.0 slots for expansions.

GIGABYTE Technology, Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, continues to be a leader in cooling IT hardware efficiently and in developing diverse server platforms for Arm and x86 processors, as well as AI accelerators. At SC23, GIGABYTE (booth #355) will showcase some standout platforms, including for the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip and next-gen AMD Instinct APU. To better introduce its extensive lineup of servers, GIGABYTE will address the most important needs in supercomputing data centers, such as how to cool high-performance IT hardware efficiently and power AI that is capable of real-time analysis and fast time to results.

Advanced Cooling
For many data centers, it is becoming apparent that their cooling infrastructure must radically shift to keep pace with new IT hardware that continues to generate more heat and requires rapid heat transfer. Because of this, GIGABYTE has launched advanced cooling solutions that allow IT hardware to maintain ideal performance while being more energy-efficient and maintaining the same data center footprint. At SC23, its booth will have a single-phase immersion tank, the A1P0-EA0, which offers a one-stop immersion cooling solution. GIGABYTE is experienced in implementing immersion cooling with immersion-ready servers, immersion tanks, oil, tools, and services spanning the globe. Another cooling solution showcased at SC23 will be direct liquid cooling (DLC), and in particular, the new GIGABYTE cold plates and cooling modules for the NVIDIA Grace CPU Superchip, NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip, AMD EPYC 9004 processor, and 4th Gen Intel Xeon processor.

MSI, a leading global server provider, is showcasing its latest GPU and CXL memory expansion servers powered by AMD EPYC processors and 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, which are optimized for enterprises, organizations and data centers, at SC23, booth #1592 in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver from November 13 to 16.

"The exponential growth of human- and machine-generated data demands increased data center compute performance. To address this demand, liquid cooling has emerged as a key trend, said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions. "MSI's server platforms offer a well-balanced hardware foundation for modern data centers. These platforms can be tailored to specific workloads, optimizing performance and aligning with the liquid cooling trend."

ASUS today announced a showcase of the latest AI solutions to empower innovation and push the boundaries of supercomputing, at Supercomputing 2023 (SC23) in Denver, Colorado, from 12-17 November, 2023. ASUS will demonstrate the latest AI advances, including generative-AI solutions and sustainability breakthroughs with Intel, to deliver the latest hybrid immersion-cooling solutions, plus lots more - all at booth number 257.

At SC23, ASUS will showcase the latest NVIDIA-qualified ESC N8A-E12 HGX H100 eight-GPU server empowered by dual-socket AMD EPYC 9004 processors and is designed for enterprise-level generative AI with market-leading integrated capabilities. Related to NVIDIA announcement on the latest NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPU at SC23, which is the first GPU to offer HBM3E for faster, larger memory to fuel the acceleration of generative AI and large language models, ASUS will offer an update of H100-based system with an H200-based drop-in replacement in 2024.

A curious piece of marketing material on the Chiphell forum has sent ripples through the tech community, featuring what appears to be an Alienware desktop equipped with an unannounced AMD Ryzen 9000-series processor. The authenticity of this flyer is up for debate, with possibilities ranging from a simple typo by Alienware to a fabricated image, or it could even suggest that AMD is on the cusp of unveiling its next-generation Ryzen CPUs for desktop PCs. While intrigue is high, it's important to approach such revelations cautiously, with a big grain of salt. AMD's existing roadmap points toward a 2024 release for its Zen 5-based Ryzen desktop processors and EPYC server CPUs, which casts further doubt on the Ryzen 9000 series appearing ahead of schedule.

We have to wait for AMD's major upcoming events, including the "Advancing AI" event on December 6, where the company will showcase how its partners and AMD use AI for applications. Next, we hope to hear from AMD about upcoming events such as CES in January and Computex in May, but we don't have any official information on product launches in the near term. If the company is preparing anything, the Alienware flyer pictured below should indicate it, if the source is confirmed. However, the doubt remains, and we should be skeptical of its truthfulness.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU), today demonstrated its industry leadership by announcing its 32Gb monolithic die-based 128 GB DDR5 RDIMM memory featuring best-in-class performance of up to 8000 MT/s to support data center workloads today and into the future. These high-capacity, high-speed memory modules are engineered to meet the performance and data-handling needs of a wide range of mission-critical applications in data center and cloud environments, including artificial intelligence (AI), in-memory databases (IMDBs) and efficient processing for multithreaded, multicore count general compute workloads.

Powered by Micron's industry-leading 1β (1-beta) technology, the 32Gb DDR5 DRAM die-based 128 GB DDR5 RDIMM memory delivers the following enhancements over competitive 3DS through-silicon via (TSV) products:

• more than 45% improved bit density
• up to 24% improved energy efficiency
• up to 16% lower latency
• up to a 28% improvement in AI training performance

Today, AMD announced the extension of its 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processor family with six new offerings providing a robust suite of data center CPUs to meet the needs of general IT and mainstream computing for businesses seeking to leverage the economics of established platforms. The complete family of 3rd Gen AMD EPYC CPUs complements the leadership performance and efficiency of the latest 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors with impressive price-performance, modern security features and energy efficiency for less technically demanding business critical workloads.

The race to deliver AI and high performance computing is creating a technology gap for IT decision-makers seeking mainstream performance. To meet the growing demand for widely deployed, cost effective and proven mainstream solutions in the mid-market and in the channel, AMD is extending the 3rd Gen EPYC CPU offering to provide excellent value, performance, energy efficiency and security features for business-critical applications. The 3rd Gen AMD EPYC CPU portfolio enables a wide array of broadly deployed enterprise server solutions, supported by trusted channel sellers and OEMs such as Cisco, Dell Technologies, Gigabyte, HPE, Lenovo and Supermicro.

GIGABYTE Technology, Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced direct liquid cooling (DLC) multi-node servers for NVIDIA Grace CPU & NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip. In addition, a DLC ready Intel-based server for the NVIDIA HGX H100 8-GPU platform and a high-density server for AMD EPYC 9004 processors. For the ultimate in efficiency, is also a new 12U single-phase immersion tank. All these mentioned products will be at GIGABYTE booth #355 at SC23.

Just announced high-density CPU servers include Intel Xeon-based H263-S63-LAN1 and AMD EPYC-based H273-Z80-LAN1. These 2U 4 node servers employ DLC for all eight CPUs, and although it is dense computing CPU performance achieves its full potential. In August, GIGABYTE announced new servers for NVIDIA HGX H100 GPU, and now adds the DLC version to the G593 series, G593-SD0-LAX1, for NVIDIA HGX H100 8-GPU.

AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) today announced revenue for the third quarter of 2023 of $5.8 billion, gross margin of 47%, operating income of $224 million, net income of $299 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.18. On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin was 51%, operating income was $1.3 billion, net income was $1.1 billion and diluted earnings per share was $0.70.

"We delivered strong revenue and earnings growth driven by demand for our Ryzen 7000 series PC processors and record server processor sales," said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. "Our data center business is on a significant growth trajectory based on the strength of our EPYC CPU portfolio and the ramp of Instinct MI300 accelerator shipments to support multiple deployments with hyperscale, enterprise and AI customers."

Velocity Micro, the premier builder of award-winning enthusiast desktops, laptops, high performance computing solutions, and professional workstations announces the immediate availability of the ProMagix G480a and G480i - two GPU servers optimized for High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence. Powered by either dual AMD Epyc 4th Gen or dual 4th Gen Intel Scalable Xeon processors, these 4U form factor servers support up to eight dual slot PCIe Gen 5 GPUs to create incredible compute power designed specifically for the highest demand workflows including simulation, rendering, analytics, deep learning, AI, and more. Shipments begin immediately.

"By putting emphasis on scalability, functionality, and performance, we've created a line of server solutions that tie in the legacy of our high-end brand while also offering businesses alternative options for more specialized solutions for the highest demand workflows," said Randy Copeland, President and CEO of Velocity Micro. "We're excited to introduce a whole new market to what we can do."

AMD today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Nod.ai to expand the company's open AI software capabilities. The addition of Nod.ai will bring an experienced team that has developed an industry-leading software technology that accelerates the deployment of AI solutions optimized for AMD Instinct data center accelerators, Ryzen AI processors, EPYC processors, Versal SoCs and Radeon GPUs to AMD. The agreement strongly aligns with the AMD AI growth strategy centered on an open software ecosystem that lowers the barriers of entry for customers through developer tools, libraries and models.

"The acquisition of Nod.ai is expected to significantly enhance our ability to provide AI customers with open software that allows them to easily deploy highly performant AI models tuned for AMD hardware," said Vamsi Boppana, senior vice president, Artificial Intelligence Group at AMD. "The addition of the talented Nod.ai team accelerates our ability to advance open-source compiler technology and enable portable, high-performance AI solutions across the AMD product portfolio. Nod.ai's technologies are already widely deployed in the cloud, at the edge and across a broad range of end point devices today."

SilverStone introduced the XE360-SP5, an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler for AMD Socket SP5, making it fit for servers and workstations based on the EPYC "Genoa" and "Genoa-X" processors, and its upcoming Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors, assuming AMD sticks to this socket infrastructure. The cooler features a copper water block that's optimized for the chiplet design of Socket SP5 processors, considering the hottest components (the up to twelve "Zen 4" CCDs) are toward the edges, and the central region has the relatively cooler sIOD. The block does not have an integrated pump, which makes it 1U-capable. It measures 92 mm (W) x 25 mm (H) x 118 mm (D). The block is made of nickel-plated copper, with come of its structural parts being made of aluminium.

A set of 46 cm-long coolant tubes connects the block to the 28 mm-thick 360 mm x 120 mm radiator. This radiator has an integrated pump that turns at speeds of up to 4,000 RPM. A set of three SilverStone 120 mm fans comes included, each of these takes in 4-pin PWM input, turns at speeds ranging between 600 to 2,800 RPM, with a noise level of up to 46 dBA, airflow of up to 87.72 CFM, and 3.09 mm H₂O pressure. The company didn't reveal pricing.

A couple of slides from AMD's internal presentation were leaked to the web by Moore's Law is Dead, referencing what's allegedly the next-generation "Zen 5" microarchitecture. Internally, the performance variant of the "Zen 5" core is referred to as "Nirvana," and the CCD chiplet (CPU core die) based on "Nirvana" cores, is codenamed "Eldora." These CCDs will make up either the company's Ryzen "Granite Ridge" desktop processors, or EPYC "Turin" server processors. The cores themselves could also be part of the company's next-generation mobile processors, as part of heterogenous CCXs (CPU core complex), next to "Zen 5c" low-power cores.

In broad strokes, AMD describes "Zen 5" as introducing a 10% to 15% IPC increase over the current "Zen 4." The core will feature a larger 48 KB L1D cache, compared to the current 32 KB. As for the core itself, it features an 8-wide dispatch from the micro-op queue, compared to the 6-wide dispatch of "Zen 4." The integer execution stage gets 6 ALUs, compared to the current 4. The floating point unit gets FP-512 capabilities. Perhaps the biggest announcement is that AMD has increased the maximum cores per CCX from 8 to 16. At this point we don't know if it means that "Eldora" CCD will have 16 cores, or whether it means that the cloud-specific CCD with 16 "Zen 5c" cores will have 16 cores within a single CCX, rather than spread across two CCXs with smaller L3 caches. AMD is leveraging the TSMC 4 nm EUV node for "Eldora," the mobile processor based on "Zen 5" could be based on the more advanced TSMC 3 nm EUV node.

GIGABYTE Technology, Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced ahead of exhibiting at the OCP Global Summit new OCP ORv3 based solutions, including ones designed for GPU centric workloads in immersion cooling. The new GIGABYTE products include a 2OU node tray, TO25-BT0, and compute nodes: TO25-S10, TO25-S11, TO25-S12, TO25-Z10, TO25-Z11, and TO25-Z12. For immersion cooling server deployments with ORv3 specifications are the new GPU servers: TO15-S40, TO15-S41, and TO15-Z40.

Our commitment to support Open Compute Project's designs dates back almost a decade starting with our OCP v1.0 products, and now we are releasing some well-designed, in demand ORv3 products. Through discussions with several customers, we decided to move forward with the development of these configurations. These designs check the boxes for specifications that are required," said Vincent Wang, Sales VP at Giga Computing. "We will continue supporting ORv3 specifications and we have more products on the horizon in Q1 2024.

Samsung Electronics today announced a new collaboration with AMD to advance 5G virtualized RAN (vRAN) for network transformation. This collaboration represents Samsung's ongoing commitment to enriching vRAN and Open RAN ecosystems to help operators build and modernize mobile networks with unmatched flexibility and optimized performance. The two companies have completed several rounds of tests at Samsung's lab to verify high-capacity and telco-grade performance using FDD bands and TDD Massive MIMO wide-bands, while significantly reducing power consumption. In this joint collaboration, Samsung used its versatile vRAN software integrated with the new AMD EPYC 8004 processors, focused on telco and intelligent edge. During technical verification, the EPYC 8004 processors combined with Samsung's vRAN solutions delivered optimized cell capacity per server as well as high power efficiency.

"This technical collaboration demonstrates Samsung's commitment to delivering network flexibility and high performance for service providers by building a larger vRAN and Open RAN ecosystem," said Henrik Jansson, Vice President and Head of SI Business Group, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung has been at the forefront of unleashing the full potential of 5G vRAN technology to meet rising demands, and we look forward to collaborating with industry leaders like AMD to provide operators the capabilities to transform their networks."

EK, the industry-leading manufacturer of premium liquid cooling solutions, proudly announces another addition to its Pro line - the EK-Pro CPU WB sTR, an enterprise-grade water block meticulously designed for AMD EPYC and Ryzen Threadripper processors. Engineered with precision and expertise, this liquid cooling solution promises unmatched performance and reliability.

Precision Craftsmanship
EK-Pro CPU WB sTR - Nickel + Acetal water block is custom-designed for AMD processors, making it suitable for desktop PCs, workstations, and taller server racks. With three standard G1/4" threaded ports on the top and an EK G1/4 plug equipped with an O-ring, this water block ensures effortless and secure connections for your liquid cooling system.

ASRock Rack, the leading innovative server company, today announced its latest server motherboard lineup now supports the AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors which extend the 4th Gen EPYC Family into new markets.

The AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors bring the benefits of the "Zen 4c" processor core to markets that seek strong performance but also have significant requirements for efficient, dense form factors, limited available power, and quieter operations. "AMD EPYC 8004 Processors are purpose-built to deliver strong performance and energy efficiency in an optimized, single-socket package," said Lynn Comp, corporate vice president, Server Product and Technology Marketing, AMD. "The combination of impressive performance and streamlined platform componentry of the EPYC 8004 Series CPUs means system builders can offer their customers cost-efficient business-relevant configurations."

GIGABYTE Technology: Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced new GIGABYTE enterprise series solutions for the AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. Giga Computing is committed to reaching all sizes of data centers to deliver the best compelling solution, and now is doing so with new AMD EPYC 8004 CPUs that target edge applications, CSPs, and value enterprises. For these uses, the new R243 and R143 server series are poised alongside ME33 and ME03 motherboard series to deliver cost-optimized performance.

Leveraging the "Zen 4c" core architecture, the AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs deliver performance and power efficiency with built-in security capabilities in an optimized single-socket platform. Additionally, the new SP6 socket was designed to enable the power, cost, and form factor requirements for the AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs' target markets as well as diverse applications such as intelligent edge computing and telco.

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform design manufacturer and a subsidiary of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, today announced availability of new single-socket server platforms supporting AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. These platforms are purpose built for cloud services and intelligent edge deployments while offering lower operating costs and delivering impressive energy efficiency.

"The AMD EPYC 8004 Series CPUs deliver a great combination of impressive performance and streamlined platform componentry which enables us to develop business-relevant server configurations for our customers," said Eric Kuo, Vice President of the Server Infrastructure Business Unit at MiTAC Computing Technology. "TYAN's innovative server platform, fueled by EPYC 8004 Series CPUs, empowers us to provide our customers with cost-effective solutions while also expanding into new markets."

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing the AMD based Supermicro H13 generation of WIO Servers, optimized to deliver strong performance and energy efficiency for edge and telco datacenters powered by the new AMD EPYC 8004 Series processors. The new Supermicro H13 WIO and short-depth front I/O systems deliver energy-efficient single socket servers that lower operating costs for enterprise, telco, and edge applications. These systems are designed with a dense form factor and flexible I/O options for storage and networking, making the new servers ideal for deploying in edge networks.

"We are excited to expand our AMD EPYC-based server offerings optimized to deliver excellent TCO and energy efficiency for data center networking and edge computing," said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Adding to our already industry leading edge-to-cloud rack scale IT solutions, the new Supermicro H13 WIO systems with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5-4800 MHz memory show tremendous performance for edge applications."